Batgirl of the Future: Rebirth
by Watership's Nightwish Rat
Summary: After her mother is murdered, cancer-survivor Coba Brooklyn goes to live with her biological father, Warren McGinnis, and his son, Terry. Two years pass by before Warren is killed- -by Coba's mother's murderer. Helped by an elderly Bruce Wayne, the two half-siblings set off on a seemingly impossible mission: to avenge their father's death and restore peace to Gotham...
1. Before the story begins

**Here it is, my first ****_Batman Beyond_**** fanfic.**

**At one point while watching the show _Batman Beyond_, I asked myself, "What would it look like if my favorite ****_Batman Beyond_**** character, Terry McGinnis, had a sister?" I also wondered, "What if she had to wear a brace on her leg all the time like I do, and for the same reason as me (battle with neuroblastoma (a type of cancer that attacks your spinal chord) as an infant)? How would a leg brace in the future be different from the one that I have on now?" Throughout this story, I will also be clearing up these questions as well as some other ones I had that were not answered in the show by adding in some of my own theories that fit in with this story (and, in some cases, with the show itself).**

**I originally named the heroine of the story my first name, but I decided that it would be too personal to be released online. I looked in the thesaurus for words that meant the same as "blue" (in this case the color). My eyes caught sight of the word "cobalt" and I took out the "L" and the "T" to get "Coba." There you have it: the story of how the heroine's first name came about. Her last name, however, came up as I considered what to name her mother. The name "Natalie" stood out, then the other name "Brooklyn" followed.**

**I do not own Batman Beyond or its characters. I only own Coba and Natalie Brooklyn.**

**(I had this note up when I first uploaded the story, but I took it down for a while. So guess what? It's back up, people!)**


	2. Prologue

**Author's notes:**

**Before we get started, I would like to list a recommended order of reading for the _BOTF_ saga to help avoid too much confusion among readers as to what's being referenced in any of the stories.**

**1. Rebirth**

**2. Running Out of Inque**

**3. Eyewitness of the Past**

**4. The Call**

**I do not own Batman Beyond or its characters. I only own Coba and Natalie Brooklyn. Please R&R...**

* * *

**Gotham City, 2037 A.D.**

Coba Brooklyn had never been in this much pain before.

Sure, she may have beaten a cancer called neuroblastoma when she was only an infant and had come out of the battle with her right leg crippled, but that pain was nothing compared to this. This was the first time in her life that she felt the agony of losing someone close to her. _I'm sorry, Mom_, she thought sadly as tears streamed down her cheeks. _I'm sorry that I didn't stop those monsters from getting to you._

Natalie Brooklyn, Coba's mother, was murdered by a gang of Jokerz just two nights before when she tried to protect her daughter (who had helped a fellow girl escape from the Jokerz, thus causing them to chase her back to her home) from the ruthless group. Now Coba sat in Commissioner Barbara Gordon's office, waiting for Gordon to come back from the Hall of Records to tell her where she could go. As far as Coba knew, her mother was the only blood relative she had, but was curious as to whether or not this truly was the case.

The young Brooklyn sat up straight as the commissioner opened the door to the office and entered. Once Gordon seated herself in the chair behind her desk, she placed a single file in front of Coba. "This was the only file I could find that had someone with blood similar to yours," Gordon explained. "Well, besides someone who never had children. The person in this file- "

"Wow!" Coba could not help but gasp sarcastically. "That's one small person!"

Barbara stared at the girl in amusement before lightly chuckling. "That is, the person whose information is in this file is Warren McGinnis," she said through her giggles. She regained her serious composure before continuing. "We have determined that he is your biological father. We contacted Mr. McGinnis several minutes ago and told him to come and meet you. If he accepts you into his family, you'll be staying with him permanently. If not, I'm afraid we'll have to do something else."

Coba tensed up at the thought of what that "something else" might be. _I hope it isn't having to live in an orphanage_, she thought. "I understand, Commissioner," she said after a brief moment of silence.

"Good." Gordon smiled at Coba admiringly. "You know, for an eleven year old you're pretty smart. Your intellect matches that of an old friend of mine who's in his eighties."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Brooklyn asked suspiciously.

"Of course it is!" Barbara explained. "The old friend I speak of is Bruce Wayne. He made the company Wayne Industries."

"Wayne-Powers now," corrected Coba. She glared out the widow behind Gordon's desk. "Curse that Powers!" she snarled.

Gordon shot a warning glance at the girl. "I don't accept talk like that in here, missy," she said strictly.

Brooklyn managed to calm herself down. "I'm sorry, Commissioner," she apologized. "I-I guess I just don't appreciate that he's the man who dated my mother and disrespected her for having a crippled child like me. Not only that, but he gives me the creeps when he smiles."

Barbara's gaze softened considerably. She was about to say something to Coba when there was a rap on the door. "What's going on?" she called.

"Warren and Mary McGinnis are here to see you and Miss Brooklyn," an adult male voice answered.

"Let them in," Gordon ordered.

Coba shifted uneasily in her seat at the sound of her only surviving relative's name. _I hope he accepts me_, she thought nervously. _I don't want to go to the orphanage!_

Warren McGinnis was just as uncomfortable as Coba. He walked in, greeted the commissioner anxiously, and sat down in his chair almost hesitantly. His wife Mary, however, sat down and looked at Coba suspiciously. Barbara introduced them to each other professionally before getting up and saying, "I'll let you all get acquainted with each other," as she opened the door to leave the office.

Mary studied Coba's appearance and compared it to Warren's in silence as Warren conversed with his unknown daughter. "Your mother was Natalie Brooklyn, correct?"

"Correct," Coba answered, feeling a hint of sadness in his voice as well as her own. She looked down at her turquoise shirt and black pants, her long, wavy brown hair draped down her shirt. "She was killed by Jokerz."

"I know, and I- " He paused painfully. "I'm sorry this all happened."

"Why is your name Coba?" Mary asked.

"My mother said that my eyes were cobalt blue when I was born," Brooklyn answered. "They have reddish brown spots now because of the effects of chemo-therapy as a baby, but I deeply enjoyed the color blue when I was that young, in fact I still do."

"You had cancer?" Mary gasped in surprise.

Coba simply nodded. "Yeah. I've been on remission for ten years."

"Is anything besides your eyes different?"

"My right leg." Coba pulled up her right pant leg, revealing her crippled leg to be supported by a sturdy metal contraption. "I have to wear this brace almost everywhere to get around easily."

"Does it ever hurt you?" Warren asked curiously.

"Only if I walk or stand for too long."

"Can I talk to you in private, Warren?" Mary asked in a suspicious voice.

"Excuse us," Warren politely said to Coba. He and his wife moved into the furthest corner of the office to be as far out of Coba's hearing range as possible. "What's up, Mary?" he whispered.

Mary stared harshly into her husband's eyes. "What do you think?" she hissed. "That girl has a crippled leg! She's likely to bring a leg-killing disease with her and give it to the boys!"

"Now don't be silly," Warren calmly countered. "She said that the cancer did it to her leg, not a contagious disease. Besides, I think she'll get along fine with Terry and Matt."

"Well I don't think so, Warren! Now tell me how it is that she's your daughter."

Warren sighed in defeat. "You remember when we had that fight when Terry was two years old?"

"Like it was yesterday, yes."

"Well, I was certain that our marriage had come to an end, so I went to a bar that night and fell in love with Natalie Brooklyn. We saw each other for a couple more weeks before we- uh- " he paused uncomfortably.

His wife held up a hand. "You don't need to get into detail, I'm well aware of what you two did."

"What? How's that?"

"I heard about it from a friend. I decided to let it go at that point, but when we started having more troubles five years ago, I realized that I never forgave you. So one night after a fight, I went to a bar and slept with another man." Mary's eyes became even more harsh. "I have something else to say that I wanted to keep hidden from you and the boys, but now that I'm going to tell you, you need to promise me that you will not tell them."

Although he did not like where this was going, Warren simply said, "I promise."

Mary leaned even closer to Warren's ear. "Matt's not your son," she whispered very quietly. "Now you know how it feels. If we are to stay married any longer, we will not bring that little miscreant of yours back home."

Warren was suddenly enraged. "I'm sorry I did what I did, but our marriage should've been over many years ago. Who knows? Maybe Terry wouldn't have gotten juvie for three months if we didn't put so much stress on him: he would've stayed out of trouble! I'll take care of Coba by myself if I must. I'm sorry Mary, but we're through."

* * *

**There you go, folks. That's an idea I have for why Warren and Mary split up. It takes away the fact that Matt is also supposed to be (spoiler alert, probably) Bruce Wayne's biological son, but I've also noticed that him being Wayne's son wasn't exactly cleared up during the show. What about his black hair, you ask? Well, in this story line, it has to do with his biological father (i.e. (gag!) the one man that Mary slept with who wasn't Warren).**


	3. Chapter 1: Two Years Later

**Gotham City, 2039 A.D.**

"Wait up, Terry!" Coba (wearing a turquoise shirt, black pants and a red jacket) called out, running as fast as her lamed leg would allow her to go (which was very fast for someone with a bad leg, although her leg was hurting her more today than it ever had before) to where her half-brother was standing by the nearest elevator type shaft in the middle of the city. _I think it's time that I got a new brace_, she thought.

"The shaft won't wait for you, Coba!" Terry called back irritably. Every single day he has lived with his father for the past three years, he has had to make sure that Coba is with him, even if it means having her tag along on one of his dates with his girlfriend Dana. She usually stays away from Terry's bad side, but it always depends on what sort of day he has. It was early this day, but he was already in a bad mood. "Run faster!"

"This is as fast as I can go!"

"I've seen you go faster!"

"You don't know what it's like to wear a brace!"

Terry shook his head despairingly. _She thinks she's so smart just because she's thirteen and already a junior in high school_, he thought. _Then again, I'm older than her, and I'm in the same grade as her!_

The shaft took off just as Coba was a few feet away from it. The sight of Terry's impatient glare made her feel worse than she already did. "I'm sorry, Terry," she choked as tears began to form in her eyes. "I tried really hard to get here on time."

The young man softened his gaze when he noticed that Coba was not only crying tears of guilt, but tears of pain as well. "No, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I should've helped you to the shaft. But they keep coming within a minute of each other. See? Here comes another one now."

The second shaft came to a stop at the bottom of the building. Terry promptly aided Coba into the vehicle. "Just sit down right here," he said, gesturing to an empty seat.

Coba willingly sat down. The only thing that made her uncomfortable about what was going on in the shaft was the subject of the news broadcast on the screen. _Curse Derek Powers!_ she thought for the thousandth time in her life. _He shouldn't be running Wayne-Powers, Bruce Wayne should be!_ A strange thought suddenly came to her. _Commissioner Gordon said that I was about as smart as Bruce Wayne three years ago, and that my blood matched that of someone who never had children. Could it be... that I'm related to Bruce Wayne? Then again, how is that even possible if he had no children, siblings or cousins?_

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a big, muscular teenager dressed in red clothing and white face paint shove his way past Terry and move towards the flat television screen. Slightly amused yet mostly peeved all at once, Coba watched as the Joker pulled out a can of green spray paint and sprayed some of it on the face of the woman newscaster speaking that moment. _He should've done that to Powers's face a moment ago_, she thought.

The Joker turned around, comically saying in his eerily baritone voice, "Ah thank you, thank you!" He smiled and squinted his eyes as he looked around the shaft expectantly. His eyes settled on a dark-skinned woman, who shyly smiled at him. He hip-hopped over to where the woman was sitting, immediately making her uncomfortable. "Oh, I saw you smile! Yes I did, yes I did!" He cleared his throat and held out his hand expectantly.

"What do you want?" the woman asked tensely.

"Payment for the joke you bought," he explained. "I give you funny, you give me money."

"But I didn't buy anything?" the woman cried, looking to her fellow passengers to help her but watching as they all looked away.

All except Terry and Coba.

The young girl immediately jumped up from her seat and pushed the clown away from the troubled woman. "Leave her alone, punk!" Coba said as menacingly as she could (which, as the Commissioner had once said herself two years ago, was enough to give the legendary Batman the chills).

The Joker was fearful at first, then chided himself for being afraid of a small, physically lame girl. He angrily grabbed Coba by her shirt collar and pulled her up to his face with ease. "And what makes you think that I will, sweetheart?"

Brooklyn grinned malignantly. "My brace in your stomach." She forcefully kicked the Joker in the stomach with her supported crippled leg, causing him to double over in pain and release her. "And don't call me sweetheart again!"

He suddenly threw out a leg and swept it around Coba's legs, making her fall backwards onto the shaft's hard floor. The Joker put one of his large feet on top of her chest, pinning her down. "I'll call you whatever I want to, sweetheart!"

Terry came up from behind the Joker, even though the Joker dwarfed him in size, and forcefully twisted the Joker's arms behind his back. "Get lost, clown!" Terry snarled as he threw the Joker across the shaft and into the television, breaking the screen. He lifted his half-sister back up to the bench. "Are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," Coba replied. "I don't think he is, though."

"Stay right here, alright? I'll handle this from here."

"Alright, good luck."

The Joker picked himself up from the floor angrily, still smiling. "Ooh, big man," he sneered. He charged at Terry, throwing a punch at his head. Terry dodged the blow and returned it. The clown stumbled backward upon the impact of Terry's fist to his face. "Alright," he snarled, "now you asked for it!"

All of the other passengers watched in awe as Terry stood his ground. The Joker came at him angrily, but stopped when he heard the shaft door beginning to open. He faked a karate pose, trying to intimidate Terry. As soon as he realized that his pose failed its purpose, he rasp-berried at the sixteen year old boy and ran out of the shaft, cackling maniacally.

Two of Gotham's police officers stepped into the shaft. They looked around at the destruction in the small vehicle before looking at Terry accusingly. Both Terry and Coba knew why they looked at him in this particular way: Terry had been in juvenile hall for three months for robbery two years before. "What all happened here?" one of the officers said gruffly.

"Jokerz," Terry and Coba simply said in unison.

The officers looked at each other and shrugged. They believed the two siblings to be truthful. After all, all of the different Jokerz gangs in Gotham were troublesome.

~!~

"Hey Coba, who's Nelson's victim this time?" Chelsea Cunningham called from behind.

Coba had no need to turn to see who was entering the Hamilton Hills High School auditorium. "You and Dana need to come and see for yourselves," she replied.

How Coba could always tell when she was with Dana Tan, Chelsea never knew. Nevertheless, she and Dana stood next to the thirteen year old genius-of-a-girl and peered down over the glass. Dana was awestruck. "Terry?" she gasped in surprise. "What is he thinking?"

"He's thinking about a Joker we ran into this morning on a shaft," Coba answered.

"How do you know that?" Chelsea asked.

"It's written all over his face. Besides, I know him well enough to tell from here."

Chelsea turned her attention to Dana. "My bid is on Nelson," she challenged.

Dana looked at Chelsea doubtfully. "I wouldn't be too sure, Chelsea."

The blonde-haired girl grinned mischievously. "You never wrestled with him."

Coba looked at Chelsea with a look of pure disgust. "Gee, thanks for getting _that _visual in my head."

A dramatic change in the fight happened before the teenage girls' eyes. Nelson Nash, the biggest of the fighters, spat in Terry's face, causing the smaller teen to react by pushing him off of himself and punching him in the face. _Oh poop_, Coba thought. _Dad's not going to like this at all when he hears about it._

"Oh no," Dana said despairingly. "Not again!"

~!~

"Powers can't be serious!" Warren McGinnis said to himself, looking at the computer screen in pure shock. His friend and co-worker, Harry Tully, had handed him a disk with information about one of Derek Powers's secret plans. "He must be crazy to think that- "

"Knock-knock."

Warren looked over to see Terry and Coba standing in the hallway. "Terry, I'm busy," he said sharply to the teen who spoke.

"I have to go out," Terry said. "Some of us are gathering at a club."

"You're grounded, remember?"

"I didn't start the fight!" Terry said defensively.

"He really didn't, Dad!" Coba said, trying to convince Warren that Terry was telling the truth. "Nelson spat in his face first!"

"Be quiet, Coba!" Warren snapped. "I'll hear all about it when we meet with the school counselor- -_again_."

"Mom would hear me out!" Terry pointed out.

"You're _not _living with your mom!"

Terry turned away from his father. "Don't remind me!" he shouted as he punched the nearest wall.

_Here it goes again_, Coba thought despairingly.

Warren stood up from his chair angrily. "That's your problem right there!" he yelled. "You can't control your temper and you'd better if you expect to get anywhere in life!"

"Yeah, I'll be a big success, just like you," Terry snarled.

Coba and Warren both looked at Terry in shock. "I'm bailing," Terry said as he stormed out of the house.

"Terry," Warren started, realizing only then that he had said the wrong things to his son- again. He turned back to the computer room, his head hung low.

"I'll try to reason with him," Coba volunteered. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She pursued her brother without waiting for her father to respond.

Stepping out of the house, Coba looked left and right to see if she could see Terry, but he was already long gone. He had not told her exactly where this club was, but she was determined to find him soon and bring him back home to reconcile with Warren. _I'll just turn left and run that way_, she thought. _Something tells me that he'll be heading in that direction within the next half-hour. If he's in trouble, I want to be able to help him. _She ran down the left path without any further hesitation, not once noticing a black car stop in front of her and Warren's house.

~!~

Coba had no idea of how long she had been running or where exactly she was, but she did not let those things slow her down. She knew that if she did, Terry would definitely not be able to fend off the Jokerz (she deduced that they would be) following him. She came to a stop in front of a gate that was located in a very sinister looking land with a large mansion at the top of a tall hill. Her right leg began to hurt her to the point where she fell to the barren ground, doubled over in agony and overly exhausted. A black great dane jumped at the gate menacingly and barked at Coba, scaring her even more. "Help!" she screamed as loud as she could.

As if to answer her cry, the gate swung open. A large old man (whom Coba noted to look very much like a coffin) walking with a cane stepped out and looked down at the girl through menacing light blue and yellowed eyes. The dog stood behind the man, snarling at the young Brooklyn. "What are you doing here?" the old man asked in a gruff voice.

If it was one thing Coba knew for sure, this old man was not only peeved about her trespassing on his property, but that there was a hint of concern for her in his voice. "I'm sorry to intrude, sir," she gasped, "but my brother is in trouble. He'll be here in about ten minutes with a bunch of Jokerz chasing him, I just know it!"

"Jokerz..." the old man pondered for a moment. He turned his attention back to the girl and softened his gaze. "Alright, I'll be on the lookout," he said as calmly as he could. "You can either wait right here with me or head up to my house to rest."

"I don't have a choice, sir. I have to wait right here."

"What do you mean?"

"My leg is in a lot of pain."

"Can you stand at all on it?"

"Not for another five minutes, but they won't be here until a couple minutes after that."

"How do you know about the foot of yours? And what about the time the Jokerz will arrive?"

"I've been wearing a brace on this leg for twelve years now, sir, and I know how long it takes for my leg to feel fine once more. I don't exactly know how I know about the minutes afterwards, though. I just get these feelings, and they're always correct. I'm guessing that you're billionaire Bruce Wayne."

The old man grinned lightly. "Another correct feeling, kid. Who are you?"

"Coba Brooklyn."

A brief silence. "Is this brother you speak of Terence McGinnis?" he asked suspiciously.

Coba tensed up. She knew that Wayne would immediately jump to conclusions. "Yes," she replied. "I know that a lot of people know him as a troublemaker, but after being with him for two years, I know that trouble actually finds its way to him. He usually acts out to it only if another person's life is at stake, like he did today before school."

"Oh yeah? Tell me what happened."

The young girl explained all of the events that happened on the shaft earlier that day. Bruce was somewhat surprised at what he heard, but at the same time he seemed to have expected it. "Sounds like something I would do when I was younger," he said in admiration. "It seems to me that you think highly of your brother, and that he thinks highly of you as well."

"I know I think highly of him, but I don't know about the other way around," Coba said glumly. "He sometimes acts like he only thinks of me as a ball and chain to carry around with him. I mean, I can't walk or run as fast as he can!"

Bruce looked even more curiously at the crippled girl. "He would have let you get beaten up by that hooligan if he didn't like you at all."

"Even if he didn't know me at all he would've done what he did," Coba pointed out. "I don't know what he thinks of me!"

"Instead of wondering what someone else thinks of you, ask yourself this question: what do you think of yourself?"

"A useless piece of junk."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Wayne cried. "You ran for who-knows-how-long with a hurting leg to save your family member. How is that called being a useless piece of junk?"

Coba did not know how to respond. She knew that the old man was right. The revving of a motor-vehicle caused her to jump to her feet. "Here they come!" she warned her companion.

"Ace, get back inside!" Bruce ordered his dog. "We'll take care of this." Once Ace had reluctantly gone back behind the concrete wall, the large elderly man closed the gate. He motioned for Coba to follow him until they were twenty feet away from the gate. "Stay behind me!" he said urgently as a single headlight approached them at top speed. "Don't charge at them unless they charge at you."

Terry had little time to react. He was too focused on the Jokerz chasing him to notice Bruce Wayne (not knowing that Coba was standing directly behind him, for she was already so small) until the last second. He quickly yanked the steering part handlebars to the left, causing the motorcycle to skid and throw him off screaming in surprise. Coba was about to run towards him when Bruce held her back, shooting her a quick warning glance. The Jokerz came to a stop in front of the gate, where Terry had wrecked, laughing joyously. Terry removed the helmet he was wearing from his head and tossed it to the side, glaring defiantly at the Jokerz in the process.

The Joker who was wearing a mask that resembled that of Batman's old nemesis, the Joker, looked at Terry in mock pity. "Aw, the no-fun-boy had an accident!" he said in an intimidating, sarcastic voice.

One of his followers, a big dark-skinned man with green hair and white face paint, pulled out a switchblade and revealed the sharp knife. "Let's put a smile on his face!" he snarled.

The Jokerz laughed in agreement and advanced on Terry. The young man put up his fists and stood in a fighting stance, ready to fight the clowns until they killed him.

"Leave him alone!" a deep voice growled.

Terry and his opponents looked towards Bruce and Coba in surprise. The small young girl walked alongside the much larger- -and much older- -man silently. "And get off my property!" Bruce continued. "You're trespassing!"

"Is that so?" snarled a female Joker.

"It's alright," Terry told Wayne and Coba, holding up a hand, "I can handle this." He said the last sentence with a hint of uncertainty, for he and the two interfering people knew very well that he could not hope to hold off the entire gang. He had said it because he did not want his little sister and an old man to get hurt in his place.

The leader of the group walked up to Bruce. "Who do you think you're talking to, old man?" he snickered. He grabbed Bruce's shirt collar cruelly and roughly shoved Coba aside to keep her from interfering. "We're the Jokerz!"

Bruce grinned malignantly. "Sure you are," he mocked.

The Joker held back a fist, ready to slam it into Wayne's face. Bruce pulled away from the Joker, dodging the punch in the process. The gangster turned around to attack again, only to be forcefully smacked in the face twice, poked hard in the stomach, and smacked under the chin by Bruce's wooden cane. The Joker flew backwards and past his followers, landing on the ground painfully.

"Whoa," Coba breathed as she stood up. _He's pretty strong for a guy his age. He probably works out a lot!_ She noticed him wince in pain and lightly touch his chest. _Okay, maybe he doesn't work out anymore, but he still fights really well!_

The Jokerz looked at their fallen leader in shock, giving Terry the chance to run to where Bruce and Coba stood and prepare for another attack. The leader of the gang sat up, wiping away some blood that was on his lips from Wayne's attacks. The rest of the Jokerz charged at their three opponents angrily. The dark-skinned Joker swiped his knife at Bruce, who immediately blocked it with his cane. As the knife-wielder struck at him again, the old man disarmed him and swung his walking stick, catching the Joker in the chest. Coba head-butted a green trench coat wearing Joker that was sneaking up from behind Wayne and tossed him aside. A gang member advanced on Terry and swung a baseball bat at his legs. Terry jumped up to avoid the strike before punching the Joker in the face. The dark-skinned Joker charged at Bruce once more, only to be greeted once again by the wooden cane. Terry punched another Joker in the face just as Brooklyn kicked a different one (that is, one that was advancing on Terry) away from her half-brother defensively. Wayne smacked his cane on the head of the Joker wearing the green trench coat before swinging it under the hooligan's feet. A female Joker wielding a mace was riding a motorcycle directly at Bruce. Thinking quickly, Coba grabbed a thick tree branch and stuck it between the spokes of the cycle's front wheel. The Joker went flying into the air, but the vehicle stayed on the ground and surprisingly did not explode. The leader of the Jokerz sneaked up behind Bruce, but the old man was aware of his presence. Without turning to face his foe, he smacked his cane into the Joker's face. The clown fell to the ground and crawled towards the nearest motorcycle. With the strength he still had, he pulled himself onto the cycle. "Come on!" he yelled to his fellow gang members. Without waiting a moment longer, he turned on the vehicle and sped away.

Bruce watched, through a bitter glare, as the rest of the gang got onto the remaining motorcycles and fled the scene. Terry and Coba- -especially Coba- -were shaken up by what happened during the fight. The elderly man walked stiffly towards the gate. They both looked at Bruce in amazement. "Man, you're something," Terry gasped to Bruce. "I've never seen anyone- -"

Wayne weakly dropped his cane and struggled to hold himself up with the cement wall, breathing deeply. "What's going on?" Coba asked concernedly.

"M-my medicine," Bruce gasped, rubbing his chest in a feeble attempt to stop the ache. "At the house." He pulled out a little remote out from his shirt pocket and pressed a button, opening the gate.

"You didn't see that his heart was bothering him?" Terry quietly asked his half-sister.

"It was better than asking if he was alright, wasn't it?" Coba countered.

Terry rolled his eyes. _I hate it when she reads my mind, however the heck she does it! _Without saying another word, he handed Bruce his cane and put the man's shoulder over his own to support him as they walked towards the mansion, which was quite a ways away.

Ace jumped out of the nearby bushes and barked at Terry and Coba. Coba gently snarled at him, letting him know that she and her brother were neither a threat, nor ones to be messed with. Ace stopped in surprise and let them aid Wayne up to the mansion. "Nice dog," Terry said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Bruce, however, was never familiar with sarcasm. "Not really," he gasped. "How did you do that, Coba? I've never seen or heard anything like it in my life."

"I once made an animal communicator," the teen girl explained. "I learned how to speak to rats, dogs, cats and even goldfish."

"What happened to the communicator?"

Coba frowned. "It was destroyed two years ago when some Jokerz killed my mother," she said solemnly. _The leader of that gang was never found, but I remember what he looks like- and that the others called him Fixx. If the police don't find him before I do, I'll make him pay for what he did to Mom!  
_


	4. Chapter 2: In The Face Of Death

The trio entered the large mansion a few minutes later. Terry and Coba helped Bruce sit down in an armchair before Terry looked for the old man's medicine. He returned just a minute later. "Here you go," Terry said to Bruce, handing him some pills. "They were where you said they would be."

"Thanks," Bruce said to the boy. He took the medicine and washed it down with a drink of water, immediately feeling better.

Terry took the glass of water politely from Wayne. "So, you're going to sleep now, huh?" he said as he went to place the water on the nearby table. "You go right ahead, our dad's probably waiting up for us anyway. We'll just let ourselves out."

"Shh, he's asleep," Coba whispered.

Sure enough, Bruce had fallen into a much needed sleep. Terry motioned for Coba to follow him as he walked towards the door. As Terry opened the door, Ace barked angrily at him. "Can you tell him that we mean no harm to him or Mr. Wayne?" Terry asked his sister.

"Sorry, but I don't know how to say 'Mr. Wayne' in dog," Coba confessed. "Besides, there's no way I can get him to be fine with _your_ presence without the help of Mr. Wayne. Why don't we just give Dad a call?"

"You'll have to do it," Terry pointed out. "I'm grounded for life from using the phone, remember?"

Coba walked over to the table and picked up the phone, disturbed to find that it was unhooked. "There goes that idea," she muttered.

Some troubled screeching was coming from behind the two children. They turned to see a bat stuck inside the clock face of the grandfather clock. Terry placed his hand on the glass, trying to find a good crevice. "I'll get you out of there," he reassured the flying rodent. "Just don't bite me."

The grandfather clock suddenly moved to the right, causing the bat to fly free in terror down the revealed staircase. Terry and Coba looked at each other in surprise for a brief moment. The oldest walked down the stone staircase, his sister limping cautiously behind. Once at the bottom, Terry turned on all of the light switches located on the left wall. The lights came on one by one, revealing a strange looking car and a large computer.

"Whoa," Terry and Coba gasped in unison.

"We just found the legendary Batcave!" Coba whispered.

"I know," Terry whispered back. He led Coba down another staircase, causing more lights to turn on. They turned around with their fists raised defensively, but they then realized that the lights were illuminating some different costumes: the original Batsuit, Batgirl's suit, Nightwing, Robin, and a newer version of the Batsuit. Terry stopped in front of the original Batman costume. "Jeez," he said in awe, "no wonder he could fight."

Coba looked curiously at the other suits. "Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin... I wonder who were wearing those suits back then," she said quietly.

"Not for you two to know," growled a voice from behind.

Terry and Coba turned around in surprise to see Bruce Wayne standing in front of the staircase, glaring at them angrily. "Get out!" he ordered, waving his cane menacingly.

~!~

"He's Batman!" Terry exclaimed after a few minutes of walking away from Wayne Manor.

"I know," Coba said irritably. "I saw it too, remember?"

"Why would he kick us out?" he wondered aloud. "We fought alongside him! We can be trusted with his secret anyway, right?"

"He doesn't know us very well, that's all. Well, and he does seem like he's afraid to be open to anyone else, as if something happened a long time ago. Can we slow down a little bit? My leg's acting up again."

Terry slowed to a steady walk, allowing Coba to walk more comfortably. "I still think he's a freak," he said gruffly. "What did we do wrong, anyway?"

"For one thing- -" Coba started.

"I didn't mean for you to answer it," Terry said sharply. "I was talking to myself."

"Oh, sorry." _We went down that staircase without his permission, Terry_, Coba finished her original sentence in her mind. _And what was down there was intended to be left unknown to the outside world, including us. It's no wonder that he's ticked off at us._

"I'm sorry, Coba," Terry apologized. "I shouldn't have talked to you or Dad like I did earlier and just now. Dad's trying to teach me right from wrong, and you just saved my life- -with the help of a whacked-out old man. How you got acquainted with him that quickly, I may never know."

Coba slightly grinned. "I may never know, either," she said with a small chuckle. "I was there, yet I don't know. Don't you hate it when that happens?"

Terry also chuckled, until he saw something that alarmed him greatly. His sister looked in the direction he was staring and was equally terrified- -if not more- -at the scene: police cars were gathered in front of their father's house.

"Oh no, not again!" Coba breathed in horror. She sprinted to the house as fast as she could and bolted inside. _Please don't let it be true!_

Knowing something was indeed very wrong, Terry took off after his sibling. He looked up the staircase suspiciously. "Dad?" he called concernedly. It was only then that he noticed that the walls of the staircase were vandalized with bright-colored spray paint. "Oh my god!" he murmured as he ran up the stairs. Two police officers were walking in his direction, but he was too scared for Warren's safety to stop for them. Terry suddenly noticed someone he had known all of his life.

"Mom!"

Mary saw her oldest son and ran to him. "Terry!" she cried. She did not give Terry any time to react before she tightly hugged him. "You're okay," she sighed with relief.

"Mom, what happened?"

"A robbery," Mary explained anxiously. "The police say it was the Jokerz: they surprised your father."

"Where is he?" Terry asked concernedly, pulling out of his mother's embrace. "Where's Dad?"

The woman looked at her son with sad eyes. "Honey, I..." her voice trailed off. She looked down at the floor sadly.

Terry knew now what had really happened to his father, but he refused to believe it. "Dad?" he called, running away from his grief-stricken mother. Two police officers tried to stop Terry, but he shoved them out of his path and ran into the home he had known for two years. "Daaaaad!"

"Terry!" Coba's voice called. "Over here!"

The young man came to a stop at where his sister was sitting, crouching over their father's still form with non-stop rivers of tears falling from her eyes. "The same man who killed my mother killed Dad," she choked. "The knife right next to us has the same symbol of an eye as the one that killed Mom." She stood up angrily the next moment, catching Terry by surprise. "Do you hear me, Fixx?" she screamed. "I'll make you pay for this!" She began to sob again as she fell over in exhaustion the next moment, unable to hold herself up.

Her brother caught her as she fell. He looked at Warren's body as he tried to comfort Coba. _I'm sorry, Dad_, he thought while his own tears fell. _I wish I had listened to you instead of yelling at you. I wish I had stayed here to help you fight those Jokerz off instead of putting myself and Coba in danger._ He glanced down at his troubled sister. _Mom hates her. What's gonna happen to her now?_

~!~

Coba found herself in Commissioner Barbara Gordon's office again the next morning. As she and Terry had predicted, Ms. McGinnis refused to take her in. Even worse was that Mary made sure Coba was not allowed to attend Warren's funeral. _I guess it's the orphanage now. _"How's my father's murder investigation going?" she asked Gordon in a depressed tone, even though she knew very well what had happened.

Barbara looked at Coba sadly. "I'm sorry, but we've hit a dead end," she said regretfully. "However, there _is_ some good news for you."

"What do you mean?" Brooklyn asked in sorrowful disbelief. "How could there be good news anymore?"

The commissioner was even more apologetic. "I know how it feels, kid, but you must remember that every day is a new one. Otherwise you'll end up like Bruce Wayne: alone and disgruntled." She smiled a little. "We've contacted the other person you have a biological match to. He said he'd be more than happy to take you in."

The girl's eyes grew big. _Well, this is better than I thought!_ "That's great!" she said as happily as she could, given the circumstances she was going through. "When do I meet him?"

"According to him, you two already met," Barbara chuckled.

A knot formed in Coba's stomach. "Who is he, then?"

An all-too familiar silhouette stepped in. "Hello, Coba," a deep voice said.

Coba turned around and was awestruck by who stepped in, but the knot in her stomach disappeared with relief. _Thank goodness it wasn't Fixx, because that would be _way_ too weird! _"Bruce Wayne?" she gasped in shock. "What- -how- -when- -huh?"

~!~

It had been a quiet car ride to Wayne Manor. Bruce knew better than to try to talk to Coba at that time, and Coba knew better than to talk to Bruce without him talking to her first. Although Ace had been acting rough and tough the previous night, he was extremely gentle in behavior towards the down-hearted girl once they got to the mansion.

"Not to be nosy," said Bruce at last, "but why did Ms. McGinnis not want you? You seem to be the only one who can keep Terrence on the right track."

"Dad told me that it was because I was the result of an affair he had with another woman," Coba explained. "I guess Mary doesn't want to look at me, knowing that I'm not her child and that I have a crippled leg. She didn't even allow me attend my own father's funeral, although I overheard Terry trying to reason with her."

"Didn't you try to get in?"

"Of course I did, but the guards wouldn't let me in. That's one reason why I wound up in Commissioner Gordon's office: I attempted multiple times to get in."

Bruce became concerned by Coba's behavior. "Why did you choose to exceed the limit?" he asked sternly.

"I would have done that any time of day for my father," Coba explained. "He would have wanted me to be there. He would have done it for me too if it were the other way around."

"I'm certain he would have." Wayne was silent for a minute, deep in thought. "What do you say to a trip to your father's grave site later?" he asked.

Coba looked at him in confusion. "Not to be rude, Mr. Wayne, but why are you so concerned about my predicament?" she interrogated.

"I'm sure it will help you feel better, and there is also something I want to show you," he explained.

"Well, okay," Coba said, still a bit unsure. _Why am I so uncomfortable about this?_

~!~

Bruce and Coba arrived at the graveyard three hours after their discussion with Ace in tow. "Do you know where he is?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I have an idea of where," Coba answered. "By the oldest maple tree."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Wayne led Coba and Ace certainly through the immense layout of land. After several minutes of nonstop walking, they came to a stop by the tree the girl had mentioned. Sure enough, the grave closest to the tree read "WARREN MCGINNIS: DEVOTED FAMILY MAN." "How did you guess this spot, Coba?"

Coba became glum as she placed some red roses on her father's grave. "Dad told Terry and me that when he died, he wanted to be buried on this spot. He said that this tree has witnessed more change than the other trees here, and that he wanted to learn what it has seen during its lifetime. He was more of a scientist than a historian, but he was still curious about what all had gone on in the past." Tears filled her vision, making it impossible for her to see the grave stone anymore. "I- -I miss him."

Bruce placed a reassuring hand on his young ward's shoulder. "I know it's hard to take in," he said gently. "Come on, now. It's time that I showed you something. It'll help us get to know each other a little more."

"A-alright," Coba stammered.

The two companions walked silently through the graveyard, unaware that Ace had slunk off on his own, smelling the night air as an unpleasant scent was getting closer and closer to where Bruce and Coba were heading.

~!~

Bruce cleared the old leaves off of a large grave stone before placing some red roses next to it. Coba looked at the stone and read the engraved words on it, then looked back at her legal guardian as he spoke. "They were my parents," he explained solemnly. "We had gone to the old movie theater that night to watch _The Mark of Zorro_." (_That explains why he wore a mask and cast a creepy shadow as Batman_, Coba mentally noted.) "After the film," Wayne continued, unaware of Coba's thoughts, "we decided to take the back alley on the way home because it was a quicker route.

"That was when the incident unfolded. A man stepped out with a gun, demanding money from my father and threatening to kill me and my mother if he didn't. Dad tried to fight him off, but he and Mom were both shot. He pointed the gun at me and pulled back on the trigger, but he was out of bullets. He ran off before I could get a good look at him." Bruce looked down sadly. "I became Batman when I reached adulthood. I felt that if I could help bring more criminals to justice, they would rest in peace easier. But I'm not doing that anymore, and now I feel... empty."

Coba placed her right hand on Bruce's left shoulder comfortingly. Her reddish-brown and blue eyes met his of blue and yellow for a moment. It was only then that they both noticed Ace was gone. "What's he up to, now?" Coba wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Wayne replied. "But whatever it is, it's something that Ace senses to not be a good thing. We'd better go look for him before it's too late."

"Right. You go to the right, I'll go back the way we came. Just don't shout for him: if there really is trouble, we'd be better off quiet unless we run into it."

"Good point, but how do we find Ace if we're quiet?"

"Whisper. Dogs have extremely good hearing, right?"

"True. Alright, I'm done feeling stupid, so get going."

The girl grinned to herself satisfactorily as she walked back in the direction of her father's grave. _I just outsmarted the old Batman!_ she thought._ I wonder what Dad and Terry would think of _that_!_ She became saddened at the thought of her deceased parent, but managed to get herself focused back on her mission. _Oh man, where _is_ that dog? I hope he's not too far away.  
_

~!~

Bruce heard some furious running behind him. He turned around with his wooden cane raised above his head, ready to fight off any who chose to mess with him. Instead of seeing a threat sneaking up on him, however, his canine friend was looking at him through disturbed eyes. "What is it?" Bruce asked Ace in a hoarse whisper. "What's the matter, boy?"

Ace looked back in the direction of Warren McGinnis's grave with his body as straight as an arrow. He growled deeply and glared in that direction. _Oh no_, Bruce thought. _Coba!_

A terrified young voice's screams confirmed Wayne's suspicions. "Let's go, Ace!" he whispered urgently, limping as fast as he could to where he knew his friend would need help from him and his dog.

~!~

A rustling of dead leaves sounded directly behind Coba. "It's a little late to be out here all alone, don't you think?" a sinister voice growled.

Coba turned around as a large figure lunged at her. She dodged to the side instinctively, only to be grabbed by yet another large man. "Let go of me!" she yelled in terror as the second man bound her hands behind her back with thick rope. "_Help!_"

The second man held onto the struggling girl firmly as the first man tied a gag around her mouth. "What are we going to do with her, Fixx?" the second man asked.

Coba's blood froze at the sound of the murderous man's name. Noticing her discomfort, Fixx grinned malignantly. "We'll do as Powers ordered for us to do to her parents: kill her."

_Powers!_ their prisoner thought with rage. _So _he_ ordered for my parents to be killed! I've gotta get out of this somehow and tell Wayne and Gordon!_

Fixx stared ruthlessly into Coba's eyes. "There's no way for you to escape death now, runt," he mocked, pulling out a large knife. He slashed it horizontally across her upper right arm, causing her to grunt in pain and leaving a long red line in its path. "No one's around to save you this time. Time to say good-bye."

_That symbol on the knife_, Coba thought. _It's the same symbol as the one on the knife that killed my parents! _

Brooklyn was suddenly overcome by a rage she could not control. She flung herself out of the second man's grasp, kicking Fixx away from her as she did so. Before the second man could grab her again, Coba jumped up and swiftly moved her bound hands underneath her feet. She swung her hands, like a club, into the second man's face. Fixx tripped her from where he lay and held her down with his powerful right hand around her throat. Rendered powerless, the young girl could do nothing but wait for suffocation to take its toll.

As all of this was happening, neither of the three heard a voice quietly yet seriously growl, "Sick 'em."

A large blur of black tackled Fixx off of Coba, causing him to release his deadly grip. Coba gasped for air instantly and quickly undid her gag to aid her breathing. The second man turned and tried to flee from the scene. Unfortunately for him, he was instantly knocked senseless. The restrained girl looked up in surprise from where she was laying on the ground to see Bruce Wayne standing over the man's unconscious body, holding his cane as if it were a sword. Fixx tossed Ace off of himself and ran for his life, not once looking back to see his target and her rescuers. The great dane had no need to chase Fixx down: he had already scared the villain out of coming back and attempting to kill Coba once more.

Young Brooklyn could hardly hold still as Bruce undid her bonds. "Put pressure on that arm," he said urgently once he was done. He gently pulled her up to her feet. "Come on, let's get out of here before more trouble arrives."

"Th-that man," Coba stammered nervously, "the man th-that got away k-killed my parents by P-Powers's command!"

Wayne was now very concerned, but he remained as calm as he could. "We'll visit Commissioner Gordon's office first thing tomorrow morning. But right now, we'd better head back to the house."

Bruce placed a reassuring hand on Coba's opposite shoulder as they walked back to the car, Ace bringing up the rear.


	5. Chapter 3: Back at the Manor

"Hold still, kid!" Bruce ordered his young ward, trying to get the sewing needle at her wound. "I can't stitch up your arm if you're wiggling around so much."

Coba gritted her teeth in agony. "It hurts!" she cried, tears filling her eyes. "Didn't you put on the numbing stuff?"

"Yes, I put it all on there," Bruce said gravely. "There's none left."

"Then put some salt on it!" Coba yelled.

"Are you crazy? It'll hurt you even more!"

"It'll put me in enough pain to not pull away so much. Put on the salt, and then you can stitch it up. Do it now!"

Bruce knew better than to try to argue with Coba at this point. He grabbed the salt container from the table, put some in his large hand, and quickly placed it on Coba's wound. The girl let out a pained scream as the salt began to make her wound burn even more, but she held perfectly still. Wayne promptly stitched it shut, not waiting for Brooklyn to calm back down and start jerking away from him again. Coba settled down considerably the next moment. Bruce let out a sigh of relief, glad that Coba's plan had been a complete success.

"Told you so," Coba said with a grim smile.

"How did you know it would work?" Bruce asked.

"My mother did that when I accidentally cut my leg open at school one day seven years ago." Coba smiled even bigger at the memory. "The school let me go home early that day. Mom scolded me for for running on the sidewalk, but she bought me chocolate ice cream on a cone anyway after she stitched my leg. She'd always buy me one after situations like that, a double scoop if I was being 'extra brave,'" she finished with a small chuckle. Her happiness faded when her mind came back to her reality. "I miss her terribly," she said sadly, tears filling her eyes. "Not a day passes by without memories of her coming to my mind."

Wayne placed a large hand on her good shoulder. "I know, kid," he said solemnly. "Same goes for me about my parents. Why don't you try getting some sleep?"

Coba shrugged. "I don't know if I can," she confessed. "After what happened with Fixx tonight it may prove to be too difficult for me to sleep."

"Just give it a try."

"Um... alright," Coba said uncertainly.

Bruce noticed the girl's reluctance. "You'll be fine," he reassured her. "I'll be in the cave if you need me."

Brooklyn nodded, getting up to leave. "Okay." She stopped, looking at her guardian. "And, Wayne?"

"What's up?"

"Thank you, f-for everything."

The old man nodded in acknowledgment. "You're welcome, Coba. And you can call me Bruce."

~!~

"'In the case of my death or disappearance,'" Terry read on his laptop screen, bewildered. His eyes grew wide in surprise at what he read next. "Whoa!" he gasped.

Terry had found the disc Warren was looking at before he and Warren had their fight. The disc was hidden in a picture frame that contained a joyful photo of him, Warren and Coba. Before Terry knew it, he had stumbled upon the very same information that cost his father his life.

"What you got?"

Terry quickly shut the computer screen is surprise and glanced to see his little brother, Matthew, standing next to him, smiling innocently. "Something that Dad was looking at," the oldest boy said after a brief moment of silence, lifting the computer screen back up.

Matthew looked at the screen, then passively said, "Booorrriiing!" He suddenly remembered something. "Some guy named Bruce Wayne is on the phone for you," he reported. "He says it's important."

After removing the disc from the computer drive and placing it in his pocket, Terry walked into the hallway and picked up the phone. "Yeah, what's up Wayne?" he asked gruffly.

"Terrence, there's been some trouble," Bruce said on the other line. "It's about Coba."

McGinnis's eyes grew wide with concern. "What's wrong? Is she alright?"

"She was wounded, but she'll be fine in a while. I'll explain all of the events later. You have to come here right now."

"Alright. There's a disc I need to show you, anyway. It has to do with Wayne-Powers. I think my old man was killed for seeing what's on it."

Bruce was silent for a moment, considering everything that he was hearing carefully. "Bring it along," he said at long last. "For all I know, Coba would like to know exactly what's been going on."

"I agree with you on that. On my way." Terry hung up the phone and turned his attention to Matt briefly. "Tell Mom I had to go," he said hastily, heading for the door, "and that I could be late."

"Where are you going?" Matt asked curiously.

"Out." Terry did not want his little brother to know exactly what was going on, for he knew Matthew would tell their mother about him seeing Coba. _Mom would kill me if she found out about this_, he thought.


	6. Chapter 4: Rise of the Batgirl

Terry stood inside the Batcave that same night. Dana had driven him to the gates of Wayne Manor in her car. "Tell Coba I said hi, alright?" she had requested before speeding away.

"Alright," Terry replied with a smile, watching his girlfriend leave. Although his mother disliked his half-sister, everyone at school- -with the notable exception of Nelson and his circle of friends- -loved having her around. It just saddened him to think about her almost being killed by a hired assassin.

"Terry?" Coba said, limping down the cave's entrance's staircase. "Wha-what's going on?"

The young man explained to Coba what he had found on the disc. "I'm having Wayne check it out," he concluded. "He also told me about what happened at the cemetery earlier. How are you feeling now?"

"My arm's feeling better, but I'm still pretty shaken up." She shuddered uncomfortably at the thought of her close call. "It-it was terrifying."

"Wayne said you put up a heck of a fight, though," Terry pointed out.

"I know, but still..." Coba's voice trailed off. "Fixx came so close to killing me this time, closer than he had since he killed Mom."

"I-I'm sorry this happened," McGinnis said apologetically. "I wish I was there to help you."

"Believe me, brother," Brooklyn said, placing her right hand seriously on Terry's shoulder, "I'm glad you were nowhere near that monster tonight."

"It's worse than I thought," Wayne voice echoed from the opposite side of the cave, disrupting their conversation. "It's some kind of new DNA mutagen. Powers is making nerve gas." His tone became ultimately angered. "He's using my company to make nerve gas!" he growled.

Coba watched her brother as he opened up the glass closet containing the black and red advanced Batsuit. They both looked at it closely for a second. "This thing may be old, but it's still cutting-edge," Terry noted. "It probably enhances your strength at least ten-to-one."

"Incredible," Coba remarked. "This technology would be useful for weakened people."

"That's exactly why I made it," Bruce said, walking up to the children. "Just don't touch it."

Terry looked at the old man quizzically. "But, aren't going to- -"

"No," Bruce said flatly.

"You built that company," Terry countered, "and now Powers is making nerve gas with it. You've gotta do something! You're Batman!"

Bruce stared harshly at Terry. "I was Batman." He pulled out the disc. "Give this to Commissioner Barbara Gordon."

"The cops?" the boy exploded. "They'll never be able to- "

"Do it!" Bruce snapped.

"Something happened to you, didn't it?" Terry accused, taking the disc from Wayne. "And it wasn't just that you got old!"

Coba suddenly snatched the disc from her brother. "Are you two crazy?" she exclaimed. "If Powers sees any one of us walking alone, he'll snatch the disc back and kill us!" She looked at Bruce seriously. "Didn't you say that we'd visit the commissioner in the morning? Why don't we go now and avoid running into that slime?"

Terry looked at his sister in astonishment for a moment, but then shook his head. "That's a good point, but I'd rather walk."

"Well, you'd better take this disc," Coba replied, handing Terry a disc that looked exactly like the one with Powers's nerve gas plans. "This is one I don't like at all."

"What exactly is it?" Terry asked suspiciously.

Coba grinned mischievously. "Do you think he'll like Justin Bieber?"

Her brother almost threw up. "How on earth did you get a hold of _that_ relic?"

"I found it in a dumpster several years ago," the girl replied, still grinning.

"Ugh, no wonder!"

"Who or what is Justin Bieber?" Bruce asked curiously.

"He was a young man that sounded a lot like a girl," Coba replied.

Bruce was never one for humor, but he wound up gasping for air amid roars of laughter. "Perfect!" he whooped. "Now Powers will be as ticked off as I am right now!"

~!~

It was very early morning when the three set off on their missions: Terry to be the distraction for Powers, and Bruce and Coba to the commissioner's office. Barbara Gordon looked over her desk computer at the odd pair after she greeted them and looked over the disc's contents. "You're saying that Powers is making nerve gas and ordered Coba and her parents to be killed?" she asked the oldest in the room.

"Exactly," Bruce replied, nodding in confirmation. "Her mother because he broke up with her, her father because he knew too much."

"But why go after Coba? She didn't do anything to him from what she's told me!"

"He didn't order for me to be killed," Coba piped up. "It was Fixx who wanted me dead."

Gordon looked at the girl suspiciously. "How do you know that?" she asked. "And, above all, why would he kill you?"

Coba looked down shamefully. "Before he killed my mother, I had rescued a girl from the group of Jokerz that Fixx was leading. My right shoe fell off of my foot as I climbed up a ladder, revealing my sharp foot brace. He grabbed my left leg, so I kicked his left eye with my brace. Now his left eye no longer exists and there's a scar right below it. He wants revenge for what I did to his eye." She fought back frustrated tears. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before, Commissioner. I guess I was just too scared about being thrown in jail or juvie."

"I wouldn't do that to someone who saved a fellow civilian and acted out in self defense, Coba. Just remember to tell me right away from now on, alright?"

"A-alright," Coba stammered uncomfortably.

"Bruce," Barbara said sharply with a dangerous twinkle in her eyes, "you'd best keep an eye on this one. Don't let her become your definition of a crime-fighter, you hear?"

Wayne nodded. "I hear you loud and clear, Barbara."

"No problem, Batgirl," Coba whispered.

Gordon looked at Bruce in suspicion. "Did you already tell her all about Batman and his side-kicks?" she asked gruffly in a quiet voice.

Coba answered for her guardian. "He didn't tell me anything about them, even though I've been inside the cave. I stumbled upon it by accident, actually."

Barbara glared at Bruce and Coba warningly. "Just make sure the word doesn't get out about our past lives as Bat-people, alright?"

"Your secrets are safe with me," Brooklyn said reassuringly.

Bruce grinned benignly at Gordon. "You know I won't be running around telling everyone, not that I really _can_ run anymore."

~!~

The odd pair returned to Wayne Manor in the early afternoon to find Terry waiting for them at the door. "You were right, Coba," he told his half-sister as they entered the mansion. "I did run into Powers, and some big guy with a scar over his left eye was with him."

"Fixx," Coba snarled. She caught herself before she could have lost her temper completely. "Did you give Powers the disc?"

"Yes, but I threw it into the air, kicked Fixx in the leg, and bolted before he would have found out what was really on the disc." He grinned humorously. "I would love to see the look on his face when he does, though."

Brooklyn could not help but smile herself. "I agree with you, bro."

Bruce looked at the two siblings seriously. "There's no way you're going to find out," he said flatly. "You both need to stay hidden until after Powers has been arrested tomorrow."

Terry looked at the old man dumbfoundedly. "But what if he does something with the virus tonight?"

"You both have a good point," Coba pointed out, "but how exactly can we do both? You know, stay _and_ leave?"

"I don't like where you're going with this, kid," Bruce told the girl. "You were there when I was lectured by Commissioner Gordon about keeping you out of trouble, and I aim to listen to her. I won't let your brother get into trouble, either."

"But sometimes you have to go against the rules to do what's right, you know!"

"I will hear no more talk of this!" Wayne snapped. "Go to your room, Coba, and take Terry with you. Now!"

Coba reluctantly led Terry upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door behind them. "I'm sorry you have to live with this guy," Terry said sympathetically.

"Well, after what happened in the cemetery last night, I'm glad I have to," Brooklyn said honestly.

"He doesn't know what we're going through right now, does he?"

"He actually does, which was why we were at the cemetery in the first place." Coba explained to Terry what Bruce had told her. "I even noticed his concern when I said that I recognized Fixx. The murderer of his parents was never found, but he knew I would attempt to take matters into my own hands as he did."

Her brother looked at her seriously. "And he managed to talk you out of it?"

"Well, not exactly." Coba pulled out a blue sheet of paper. "I found these blueprints to the high-tech Batsuit last night in the cave. I got almost completely done with my own adaption of it before going with Wayne to see Gordon." She showed her brother the nearly finished suit, which was made of black material and bore a cobalt blue symbol of a bat. To complete the suit was a pair of cobalt blue gloves.

Terry looked seriously at his little sister. "You're not going out there," he said flatly. "I don't want you to get hurt again. I'll go."

"But how will you not be recognized by Powers and Fixx?" Coba asked.

"I'm taking the Batsuit," he replied bluntly. "I don't care what Mr. Wayne thinks about it. Powers needs to be stopped, and Fixx needs to be dealt with."

Coba was about to object, but the look in Terry's eyes told her that there was no way she could talk him out of it. "Alright," she sighed. "Just be careful." _I can't go out as Batgirl, but he can go out as Batman? Not while Powers and Fixx are still free and I've got my own suit!_

~!~

Bruce Wayne turned off his television foul temperedly. _Curse Derek Powers!_he thought, not knowing that Coba had been thinking the same exact thing for over three years. A noise from outside caught his attention as he stood up from his arm chair. Looking out the window, he saw that Ace was tied to the gate, barking urgently. Bruce threw a batarang precisely at the middle of the rope. The big black dog ran inside the house, sniffing at the floor.

"What is it?" Bruce asked urgently. "What's the matter, boy?"

Ace lifted his head and barked at the old grandfather clock, which was blocking the entrance to the Batcave. Bruce opened the entrance and followed his dog into the cave. The next thing he saw made his blood boil: the place the high-tech suit had been in for twenty years was gone! Not only that, but there was a note taped to the glass that caused him to shed a few tears of guilt and sadness:

_"Mr. Wayne,_

_I cannot express to you how ashamed I am of myself. You helped me fight off the Jokerz, took me in when I had no where else to go (besides the orphanage), took me to visit my father's grave, told me about your parents, and saved me from Fixx. Yet, I'm also ashamed that you refused to face Powers and Fixx, and told me and Terry to stay out of it. Those men will continue to kill countless other people if we do nothing. I don't want what happened to you, to me, and to Terry to happen again. You said yourself that you've been feeling empty after not fighting crime. If I don't see you again, I'm sorry for leaving in this manner. __Once you get this message, talk to me and Terry via com-link (__I had found the blueprints to the Batsuit and made my own copy of it, adding a com-link and an invisibility feature: I figured a suit like this would be more comfortable for my leg than a metal brace, anyway)_. We'll need a layout of the Wayne-Powers building.  


_Sincerely,_

_Coba Brooklyn._

_P.S.: Please don't tell Gordon that I'm taking over her title as Batgirl for tonight. Unless there's an emergency, of course."_

Bruce looked away from the note sadly and walked towards the cave's large computer. "Good luck, Terry and Coba," he murmured.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Well, that's it for this chapter. Only a few more left until this book is over!  
**

**I do not have anything against Justin Bieber as a person, but I do not like his music. I think Powers wouldn't appreciate it, either. :P  
**

**I just put up a poll on my profile page. Go there to vote for who your top three favorite characters in this story are!  
**


	7. Chapter 5: At Wayne-Powers

Terry was standing on the edge of the Wayne-Powers at the top floor, staying out of the window's path to avoid being seen by Powers and Fixx. Unbeknownst to him, Coba was directly in front of him and the window, using her suit's invisibility feature. They both held their fingers (which had pads on them that enabled them to hear better) against the glass and listened to the rest of Powers's conversation with Casnian minister of commerce, Filmoce Egans, for the last few minutes.

"...even with animals," they first heard clearly from Powers.

"And humans?" Egans asked. "You've tested it on them, too?"

"The laws here aren't as liberal about that sort of thing as they are in your country, but we did have a little accident." Derek pulled out a few photos, all of Harry Tully, from his jacket. "One of my workers, terrible thing," he said, not sympathetic for Tully at all. "There was a gas leak in his lab." He held the first photo in front of Egans's face, revealing Tully to have black spots here and there on his body. "This is what he looked like the next day- -" (Powers slipped the second photo over the first, this time revealing Harry with more black spots) "- -two hours later- -" (then the third one, which Egans cringed in disgust at) "- -and an hour after that."

Egans looked at Powers uncomfortably. "There is no cure?" he asked concernedly.

Powers took the photos back, but started to pull out another as he said, "Extreme heat or radiation, but at this stage that's obviously not an option." He held the fourth and final picture for Filmoce to see. Filmoce cringed even more, trying to look away but his eyes would not allow it. Powers grinned malignantly. "Dust to dust," he said slowly in a heinous voice.

Coba and Terry clenched their jaws in rage as they continued to eavesdrop. "Consider what a real dose of this gas could do to those six armored divisions your neighbors keep on your border," Powers continued as Fixx held a lighter to the photos, setting them on fire. "Gone!" The villainous businessman threw the flaming pictures towards Egans's feet. "In a matter of hours."

Filmoce was awestruck for another moment before smiling satisfactorily and standing up from his chair. "Delivery," he said in his foreign accent, "it's in progress?"

"My men are loading the canisters as we speak," Powers replied. "They leave tonight on hover transport. My assistant, Mr. Fixx- -" (Coba angrily clenched her fists together tightly) "- -will personally supervise the shipment."

"Excellent," Egans said evilly, shaking Powers's hand and turning to leave. "Goodbye, Mr. Powers. I will see you again soon- -I hope."

Powers watched the prime minister leave. "Yes, soon." He waited until Egans was out of the room before he turned his attention to Fixx. "Mr. Fixx, any word on the kid?"

"Not yet," Fixx responded, "but we're looking."

"I don't have to tell you how important this deal is to Wayne-Powers," Powers snarled. "It's going to open up the entire Eastern-block for us, so I don't need it spoiled by a snot-nosed punk."

Fixx grinned wickedly. "I took care of his old man, didn't I?"

Terry and Coba clenched their fists together with rage at the mention of Fixx killing their father. _I'll give him what's coming to him!_ they each thought.

"Yes, and you did a wonderful job with that," Powers continued, "but I heard about how you went after the Brooklyn girl last night and got beaten up by a black mutt. If you fail to kill the McGinnis boy like you did the girl, I'll make sure you never fail again. I don't want him giving me the wrong disc again. Do you have any idea how annoying Justin Bieber is?"

The larger of the two villains lightly brushed his hand over the spot his left eye used to be as he and his employer left the room. "I know how annoying he is: I was listening to his cacophony of music with you, remember? And no, I won't fail you this time, Mr. Powers," he said in a gruff, evil voice. _I will not let that girl make a fool out of me again, and I won't give the boy another chance at it either!_

_I'll take this guy down, Coba_, Terry thought. _I'll do it for you and Dad, I swear it!_

_Mom,_ _Dad_, Coba thought, _if you can hear my thoughts right now, your murderer will soon have what's coming to him._

"It's a little early for Halloween" a taunting voice said behind Terry, bringing up a gun.

Batman turned to face the guard threatening him. "But just in time for fall!" he said in a deeper voice than usual. _If I'm dressed like Batman, then I should at least sound kinda like him._ He fell backwards purposefully and opened the suit's wings, gliding gracefully to the ground.

The guard and his companions immediately began shooting at Terry. Fearing for her brother's life, Batgirl flung herself headlong at the guards. The first guard was completely caught off guard by the invisible girl's attack. He stumbled backwards and fell off of the ledge to a lower level, taking all of the other guards with him. Coba turned off her suit's camouflage feature before she glided after Terry. _That worked out better than I thought!_

Terry ran towards the warehouse, unaware that he was no longer being shot at until he saw Coba hard on his heels. "What are you doing?" he snapped once they were inside. "You could get yourself killed out here!"

Coba threw her best improvisation of the famous Bat-glare at him. "You could get killed out here too, you know!" she shot back in a low whisper. "Now keep your voice down or we'll both be found!"

"Kids!" a hoarse voice crackled through their com-links. "Can you hear me?"

"Who-who's that?" Terry asked in a surprised whisper.

"It's Wayne," the voice replied.

"Mr. Wayne? Where are you?"

"There's a radio receiver in your cowl."

_No kidding!_ Coba thought irritably.

"Where are you two now?" Bruce asked.

"Some kind of warehouse," Coba answered. "It's located to the south wall of the Wayne-Powers building. We're trying to get to where the hover transports are being loaded, but we're also trying to shake off some guards."

"You've got a long ways yet. The hover pads are in the north-east sector."

"Just our luck," Terry scowled. "How exactly do we get there without being spotted?"

Bruce thought it over for a long minute. "There should be a broom closet nearby," he said at last. "Once you're in there, push hard against the far wall."

"I saw them go in here!" a voice from outside shouted.

Several more voices shouted in acknowledgement, followed by quick footsteps drawing closer and louder to the teenagers each passing second. Coba turned to her brother urgently. "You go ahead," she said seriously. "I'll hold them off."

"Are you crazy?!" Terry whispered angrily. "I won't leave you here!"

"My right leg slows me down, remember? Besides, I'll be harder to catch with invisibility on, and you have a better chance of stopping Powers and Fixx by yourself than I do. Get going!"

"But you'll get kil- -"

"Don't argue with me! Go, now!"

Terry knew better than to continue to try to talk his sister out of it. He knew that she was right. "Good luck, Coba," he murmured. He quickly dashed through the warehouse, searching for the broom closet Bruce was telling him and Coba about.

"What on earth are you thinking, Coba?" Bruce shouted. "They'll kill you after they take you to Fixx!"

"If they catch me first," Coba added. "I have a plan of my own for if I do get caught, but I also have a plan that will most likely get me away without much trouble. Keep quiet: I can hear them coming!" She turned on her invisibility as the guards came in one by one.

"Search the area and guard the entrance!" the first patroller said urgently. "They can't get out anywhere other than there."

_Not according to Bruce Wayne, you oaf_, Coba thought with a small grin. She quietly sneaked around to the back, seeing a door to a small room. _That's the broom closet! Should I go ahead and join Terry while they're still busy?_ She shook her head. _No, they'll see me open the door and push the wall, and that'll get them to follow me and Terry. I'd better place myself between them and the closet and fight them off, like I said I would. This is for you, brother._

Three guards were approaching the closet fast when Coba sprung into action. She jumped up and performed a spin kick, hitting their heads in one swift move and knocking them unconscious. Two more guards, having seen their companions fall in senseless heaps, dashed to the scene. Coba grabbed them both by the back of their heads and slammed them together. She turned off her invisibility as ten more guards surrounded her. They all lunged at her reflexively, but the new Batgirl was ready for them. She flew up to the roof, causing the patrolmen to collide with each other and fall down senselessly. Coba turned her invisibility back on before she landed back onto the ground. _That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now to find the hover pads..._

A large fist slammed into Brooklyn's back, disabling the camouflage feature of her suit. Fixx removed the high-tech goggles from his head before he roughly grabbed the small girl and pinned her hands behind her back. "You little Bat-brat," he mocked. "If you thought that you could get away with spying on us, you were wrong. I also know that you are not alone. Where's your friend?"

Coba shot her best Bat-glare at Fixx, causing him to flinch with fear. "He's not here, meat-head!" she growled. "He's probably long gone by now."

Fixx threw Batgirl at the nearest cement wall. Her back collided painfully with the wall, but she did her best to hide her pain. She grinned fiercely with a crazy look in her eyes before jumping up, grabbing the goggles from Fixx's grasp and breaking them. Before Fixx had the time to react, Coba made herself invisible and ran stealthily out of the building. Fixx decided against trying to track her down, knowing that he had to immediately warn Powers of what was going on if the shipment was supposed to be successful.

~!~

Batman was almost to the hover pads when someone caught his eye. "Coba!" he whispered through the com-link in relief, running towards his sister.

The young girl had turned her camouflage off once she knew that she was out of Fixx's sight. She noticed her brother coming towards her as fast as he could. "Terry," she gasped in relief, almost out of breath from running. "You got away alright."

Terry patted her back gently. "Looks like you did, too. How'd you manage without me this time?"

Coba grinned. "I added some features to this suit, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Terry replied, grinning. "Come on: we've got a shipment of gas to stop."

"Right behind you, bro. Well- -" Coba grinned cheekily- - "_this_ time. For the most part, anyway."

McGinnis raised an eyebrow at the Coba through the cowl. "What do you mean, 'for the most part'?"

"You'll see." She grinned even bigger. "Then again, maybe you won't be able to see."

"Let me guess, camouflage."

"Exactly."

"Hold on," Wayne's voice crackled through the receivers in their cowls. "There's another thing that you should know about the hover pads."

"What's that?" Coba asked curiously, interested in what was in store for her and her brother. "They lack cover for us, don't they?"

"How the heck did you- -" Bruce started.

"- -know?" Coba finished. "It was just a lucky guess. Am I right, though?"

"Yeah, you're right. Terry, there are some magnets on the feet of the Batsuit. You should be able to hide underneath the metal platform several yards away from the hover transporter. I'm guessing that you added those in your suit too, Coba."

"Actually, it's the one thing that I don't have," Batgirl confessed. "But my camouflage should still work." She switched it on to make sure, then switched it back off. "Alright, it still works."

Bruce sighed in relief. "Excellent. I'll see you two later, knock on wood."

The two siblings silently continued on their way to the hover transport. "Wish us luck," Terry murmured.

~!~

Wayne had been sitting in the computer chair all the while listening and responding to the two teenagers. He became somewhat sullen when he heard Terry's last words in the conversation. "Good luck," he said.

Ace looked up at his master in concern, knowing that Bruce was worried about Terry and Coba. His eyes seemed to show concern for the two teenagers' safety, as well. "They've got each other and technology on their side, boy," Bruce reassured his canine companion. "They'll be alright."

_At least I hope so.  
_

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I don't know how to spell the minister of commerce's name, so I decided to wing it.  
**

**One step closer to the final conflict! I hope you're as stoked about it as I am!  
**


	8. Chapter 6: Intercepting The Shipment

McGinnis hid himself underneath the platform, using the electromagnetic energy of the suit's feet, at the top of the staircase located where the hover pads were. Coba made herself invisible and sat down directly underneath the staircase, aiming to let her leg rest for a minute before the main fighting between the siblings and the villains would commence. They eavesdropped on a conversation that Powers was having on his cell phone with a security guard.

"You said they wouldn't be a problem!" Powers snarled. "Well, deal with it!" He angrily shut his phone, not wanting to hear any more from the guard.

Fixx ran towards his employer urgently, gasping for breath. "Almost... finished loading sir," he gasped in exhaustion. "The intruders... I ran into one... but she got away... the other is... is nowhere to be found!"

Powers put his phone away. "The sooner we're done loading, the better," he said, ill-tempered. "I don't want those Bat-wannabes showing up and interfering."

A guard was walking across the platform when something strange caught his eye. "Hey, look!" he called out. "There's the Batman!"

Time to get this party started, Terry thought. He caused the magnet's grip on the platform to release, allowing him to glide away as some blaster bullets struck at where he was just sitting. More guards lined up in front of Powers and Fixx with all guns blazing, but Batman was quickly ready for them. He made a couple of loops in the air, then dived down at the guards, bulling all of them over. He landed on the ground and mightily leaped directly in front of the two villains.

"You're out of business as of now," McGinnis said in a deeper, gruffer voice than his own as he looked at Powers. He looked at Fixx angrily, unaware of a forklift heading straight at him. "And as for you Fixx, I'm taking you in for the murder of- -ugh!"

The forklift threw Terry aside before he could finish his sentence. Without turning off her invisibility, Coba ran to the hover craft that had the shipment and somersaulted into it. Fixx pulled out a pistol, knelt down, and aimed it at the teenage boy. Powers walked over and took the weapon out of his employee's grasp.

"Get that hover craft into the air!" Derek ordered, gesturing towards the vehicle.

Fixx stood up and ran to the hover craft. Powers lifted the pistol to his shoulder so it was pointing into the sky before stalking over to where Terry was being squeezed in his thighs by the forklift. The big man got into the cockpit of the hovercraft, fully unaware of his sworn young enemy's presence.

Batman pulled out a batarang and threw it at the guard operating the lift, breaking through the glass and knocking the guard senseless. Terry fell from the forklift to the ground. Derek aimed the pistol at him and fired several shots. Terry jumped backwards, avoiding the bullets of the small gun. "Where are you, Coba?" he whispered into his com-link.

"I'm in the hovercraft," Coba answered in a low voice. "It's about to lift off. You'd better get in here right now."

Terry snarled as he threw a batarang at Powers, watching as the businessman shot it accurately. "Like shooting skeet," Derek said mockingly.

"I'm a little busy right now with getting past Powers," Terry whispered back. "I'll catch up in a minute. Hold off those guys as long as you can."

"Roger that. Good luck, Batman."

"Right back at ya... Batgirl."

Coba grinned. _Hmm, I kinda like this_, she thought. She walked silently along the corridor of the hover craft, skillfully avoiding the three guards' attention until she was directly behind them. "Oh, boys!" she said in an obnoxious high-pitched voice.

The patrolmen turned around in surprise, but they saw nothing. "Where are you?" one of them demanded to know.

"Oh, somewhere," Coba replied.

"Where are you?!" another patrolman said, echoing the first guard to speak.

The first patrolman to speak was knocked senseless. "Right behind this unfortunate moron... _moron_," Batgirl mocked.

The two remaining guards jumped headlong at their companion's body, only to bump into each other and fall to the ground, dazed but still conscious. They felt their uniforms being grabbed from behind and could do nothing as they were dragged up the ladder to the hatch and thrown to the concrete below.

Coba climbed down from the hatch. _Huh, that was easy__.__ Almost too easy, it seems._ She wandered over to the cockpit as she turned off her suit's camouflage feature. "Now to find Fixx," she muttered.

Two large hands tightly grabbed her shoulders from behind before tossing her against a nearby wall. Coba had no time to react as her assailant grabbed her around her arms and chest in one of his powerful arms. "You should've been alert, runt," the attacker mocked. "I was right behind you the entire time you were on board."

"What's in it for you, Fixx?" Brooklyn asked gruffly, struggling for freedom from Fixx's grasp. "Why are you doing this?"

The large villain grinned malignantly. "I knew that you'd get involved, Coba Brooklyn." He chuckled wickedly when he noticed his prisoner suddenly freeze in surprise at the mention of her name. "That's right, I knew who you are behind that mask. I recognize that limp of yours anywhere." Fixx pulled out an electric band and put it on his massive free fist. "I'd kill you right now if it wasn't for your Bat-friend's presence at the hover pad."

"You aim to kill both of us!" Coba accused angrily. "You want me alive so you can lure him to you!"

Fixx nodded. "You've got that right." He shocked his captive for a moment, causing her to scream in agony. He tightly tied her to the metal pipe behind the captain's chair with some rope. "Those screams of yours should be enough to bring your friend over here."

"Your plan won't work this time, Fixx!" the girl said angrily.

The man grinned even more evilly than he had before. "I wouldn't be so sure, Bat-brat," he taunted. "You're stuck to those pipes with no way out, and that friend of yours will undoubtedly come for you. I have a fool-proof plan that will bury the both of you six feet under."

Brooklyn struggled hard in her bonds once Fixx turned to the chair and sat in it, focusing on getting the hover craft into the air. _I've gotta get free somehow_, the girl thought._ If I don't, Terry will get killed in my place. I can't let that happen to my family- -not again. Wait a minute, maybe there's a feature in this suit that'll help. Ah-ha! There's something!_

A batarang appeared from her wrist. As silently and quickly as she could, Coba worked her way through the ropes with the sharp blade.

~!~

McGinnis heard his half-sister's agonized scream through his radio receiver. "Coba," he whispered quietly. _Hang in there, sis. I'll be there in a minute._

Terry saw a container of gas right next to him, giving him an idea. Without giving his plan a second thought, he grabbed the container and, once Powers had his back turned to the teen, threw the container at his foe. Powers shot it instinctively, immediately regretting this action. The container knocked him to the ground and leaked out the deadly gas from the cracked glass of it.

"No," Powers said anxiously at first. He looked closer at the canister and immediately shouted fearfully, "NOOOO!"

Without waiting around for the gas to attack him, Terry flew after the rising hover craft and grabbed hold of one of its outer vents. He extended his hands out, making some claws draw out from the suit's finger tips, and he climbed across the right wing of the ship. Once at the edge of the wing, he jumped forward mightily onto the hatch. He cautiously pulled it open, not sure if there were any guards nearby. Upon seeing the only guard left (who was coming out of unconsciousness) coming after him, Terry grabbed him and threw him into the sea below.

_Now to find Fixx and Coba_, McGinnis thought as he ran down the corridor. He caught sight of the captain's chair and a severed rope lying below the nearby pipe, causing him to sprint faster. With another mighty jump, he kicked the chair around to face him, only to find it was empty. He looked at the dashboard to see the "auto pilot engaged" button flashing. _Where are they?_

"Look out behind you!" Coba's voice warned urgently.

Batman instantly ducked as a large fist with an electric band flew past him. Turning around, the young man punched his assailant in the stomach forcefully. Unfortunately for Terry, the much larger man's other fist sailed into his face, causing him to hit the windshield and fall back down to the floor.

Fixx charged at Terry in a split second. Coba threw herself on the ground directly in front of her enemy's feet and curled into a tight ball. Having no time to dodge the young girl, Fixx tripped over her and landed on his electric fist bands just inches away from the teenage boy. Coba sat up painfully as Fixx was electrocuting himself.

"Now do you see how it feels, punk?" she mocked.

The villain rolled off of the electric bands before he tackled Coba to the ground and pulled out a knife. "Not through my left eye, thanks to you," Fixx snarled. "I've been waiting for two years to kill you for it. Now, die by the knife that killed your mother!"

Coba held on tightly to Fixx's wrists as he aimed the knife and an electric fist at her face. The sight of the knife's insignia, however, gave her the same boost of vengeful energy she had the other night when she found a similar knife next to her father's corpse. Without having a second thought about it, the angered teen kicked Fixx off of her, sending him flying directly into the right shelf holding some of the containers of gas. Miraculously, none of the containers were damaged.

Fixx jumped up and charged headlong at Batgirl with his knife raised. Before she could counter the attack, Coba was struck across her right eye by the dangerous blade. The large man punched his much smaller opponent forcefully in her stomach before hitting her in the face both times with the high-voltage fist bands. Blood trickled from Coba's eye and mouth as she stumbled backwards into the pipes she was bound to moments before. She tried to stand back up, but found that she had no energy left to fight or escape. All she could do now was wait for her sworn enemy to kill her.

"Not on my watch, dreg!" Terry's voice shouted.

Coba watched in horrified fascination as Terry jumped between her and Fixx and grabbed the villain's wrists tightly. Fixx tried to push the young man back, but Terry pushed him until they were directly in front of the back of the pilot's chair. Seeming to gain the upper hand of the fight, Fixx pushed his opponent up against the chair. No matter how hard he tried, though, he could not seem to get his weapons close enough to the teen's body to hurt him.

"You're pretty strong- -" Fixx gruffly remarked- - "for some clown who thinks he's Batman."

"I _am_ Batman!" McGinnis growled back.

Before Fixx had a chance to react, Terry headbutted his chest, causing him to back up. The young Batman punched the evil man across the face twice, unaware of Coba lifting herself up from the floor. Fixx snarled at Terry before preparing to punch him back. To Fixx's surprise, Terry's right fist collided with his face as Coba kicked him in the stomach forcefully. The momentum of the kick sent Fixx sailing into the dashboard. Fixx screamed in agony as his electric fist bands collided with the metal dashboard.

The hover craft flew with its nose facing the sky, sending the two siblings backwards to the ladder. Some of the gas containers fell out of their places on the wall the next moment. Terry instinctively jumped out of the hatch as the containers came crashing down at him and opened his suit's wings, managing to glide safely away.

Coba, however, was less fortunate.

One of the canisters landed on Coba, crushing her between it and the ladder. The hover craft flipped upside down the next moment, dumping her and the canister out. She opened her suit's wings, but the canister hit her once more, knocking her out of balance and thus making it impossible for her to glide after her half-brother. She painfully screamed in terror as she plummeted towards the sea.

The sound of Coba's horrified shout struck fear into Terry's heart. He chanced a look behind him to see the hover vehicle plunging into the sea, but the sight that concerned him the most was that of his half-sister falling towards the sea helplessly. He quickly flew in the direction of the young girl. "Coba!" he called out urgently.

Brooklyn was barely a few feet above the sea when she felt herself being ripped from the air. Her eyes were shut tight in fear for a moment before she realized that she was not in the water already. She lifted her head and opened her eyes with a start, immediately recognizing her rescuer. "Terry," she murmured in relief.

McGinnis looked back down at Brooklyn and grinned reassuringly. "I got ya, Coba. Hang in there, alright?"

"Where are we heading?" Coba gasped.

"We're going back to Wayne," Terry answered. "Only a few more minutes till we're there. Hang in there," he repeated.

It was only a matter of seconds before the teenage girl noticed her injuries. The pain took its toll on her at an intensely accelerating speed, making her weaker and weaker with each passing second. "Brother..." she gasped. "It... hurts... bad... death... soon... goodbye..." Coba's voice trailed off as her vision blacked out, her body going limp as it did so.

"Coba!" she was not able to hear Terry's voice plead. "Coba, wake up!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Yes, I ended this chapter on a suspenseful note. Will Coba survive to tell the tale? Or will her injuries kill her****? Find out in the next chapter!**

**The character poll is still on my profile page if you want to cast your vote on your three favorite characters from this story!**


	9. Chapter 7: Coba's Revelation

"How is she?" Bruce nervously asked the hospital nurse as she walked towards him. "Will she be alright?"

The nurse looked at him seriously and kindly all at once. "Her ribs are badly cracked, and her eye is still a little infected," she announced, "but they'll heal up just fine. She's going to make it."

Bruce breathed a sigh of relief before another question popped up. "Will she be able to see out of her eye after it heals, then?"

"Luckily, yes," the nurse replied, "although there will be a nasty scar left over. I don't know how well she'll take _that_ news: you know how teenage girls are about their looks."

The old billionaire smirked. "I doubt that will be an issue with her. When will she be able to leave?" he inquired further.

"Because of her rapid recovery thus far, as a matter of fact, she can leave in a couple of hours," the nurse answered with a reassuring grin. "Would you like to see her now?"

"It depends on if she wants to be seen," Bruce said modestly.

"Actually, she wanted me to see if you'd be kind enough to see her," the nurse kindly countered.

Wayne was genuinely touched by the mention of the injured girl wanting to see him, but he still kept his concerned demeanor about him. He followed the nurse out of the waiting room and allowed her to lead him to the room Coba was staying in. Even though Coba was in a hospital bed with some bandages over her eye, Bruce noticed that she was looking a lot better than she had two hours earlier when Terry brought her pale, unconscious form back to Wayne Manor. Brooklyn smiled at her legal guardian warmly.

"I'll let the two of you talk for a few minutes," said the nurse as she left the room, leaving the door cracked open as she did so.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked the teenager.

Coba shrugged at first, immediately feeling the pain in her ribs and wincing. "I was about to say okay, but I guess my ribs still really hurt," she replied through gritted teeth.

Bruce nodded sagely. "I know how that is," he said sympathetically. "I've had some of my ribs cracked while I was still... _working_," he caught himself, remembering that the door was still barely open.

His young friend chuckled very lightly at the way he said "working." "I'd imagine," she stated. "Having cracked ribs sure seems like an occupational hazard in that business."

"Now that you mention it, it really is," Wayne confessed with a small smile. His features became serious after a moment. "Do you still think that your brother doesn't like you very much?"

Brooklyn thought for a moment, then grinned a little. "I just started noticing the contrary when we were at Wayne-Powers," she explained. "Why I didn't notice before, I don't know." Her grin faded at a sudden realization. "I guess I didn't notice because I didn't think of myself as anything more than a 'useless piece of junk,' like I mentioned the other night. I must've let that image I had of myself blur my vision of what I really am, and what others see me to be."

"What do you think of yourself now?" Bruce asked curiously.

"A girl who just risked her life to help save the world is what _I_ think."

Coba and Bruce looked towards the doorway with in surprise to see Barbara Gordon seating herself in a nearby chair. "Wayne told me everything about that excursion of yours a couple hours ago," the commissioner informed Coba in a harsh tone. "I'm ashamed of you for acting so impulsively..." She softened her tone considerably before continuing. "But at the same time I'm proud of you for doing what you thought to be right, which it was. Even if it was at least a little bit against the law."

"I completely agree with you, Commissioner Gordon," Bruce sided with her , a little smile forming on his face again. He looked at Coba expectantly. "Well, what's your opinion?"

Without stopping to think it over, Coba responded, "A warrior girl trying hard to help and keep her older brother out of trouble."

Bruce smiled bigger. "Not bad at all," he said in admiration. "That's exactly what was going through my mind about you the other night."

Brooklyn grinned at Bruce. A question immediately came to her mind that then came out of her mouth: "What ever happened to Powers, do any of you know?"

Gordon rose her hand halfway up. "Last I heard, he was arrested and due to be in radiation within the hour," she replied sagely. "Even if he does survive the effects of the gas, he won't be in business anymore: we'll be keeping him in prison for the rest of his life if we can. Criminal defense lawyers can nasty creatures to bargain with until their clients are proven guilty, whether they really are or not."

"Well, at least he won't be making more gas any time soon." Coba looked at Bruce curiously. "Where's Terry? Does he know about this?"

"He had to go home," Wayne explained. "His mother would have gotten overly worried if he didn't get back home until past ten o'clock." He grinned darkly. "And yes, he knows about Powers: he's the one who exposed him to his own gas."

"What time is it now?"

"Ten-thirty." Bruce noticed Coba's down-hearted expression. "Don't worry: we'll both be paying him a visit tomorrow at his mother's house."

Coba looked at Bruce quizzically. "Are you crazy? You know Ms. McGinnis won't let me into her home, especially with an eye all patched up!"

Wayne simply grinned. "She'll let you in if I'm with you."

There were no more words spoken to convince Coba, nor were any more words needed. She knew that her wealthy guardian was right: if there was anyone who could persuade Mary McGinnis to let the girl pay a visit, it was billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Barbara looked sternly at Bruce. "I told you to make sure that she didn't take matters into her own hands," she chided. "Keep a better eye on her in the future. I'd hate to find out that she had been killed in action."

"I'd hate to hear it, too," Bruce confessed, "but that's all up to her. I can't talk her out of it: she's witnessed the same pain that I have and then some, and you know very well that no one could talk me out of being Batman. If she _doesn't_ want to continue, then that's the end of it. If she _does_, then I'll make sure that she gets the training she needs."

"I'm serious, Bruce!" Gordon snapped.

"So am I," Wayne countered. "If she wants to keep going, I'll let her."

"I'll keep doing it," Coba stated. "Even though I was scared half to death most of the time, I had never felt so alive and helpful my entire life." She grinned benignly. "Besides, my leg didn't hurt at all when I wore the suit. Getting around won't be that much of an issue anymore."

"Well, don't wear that suit all of the time," Bruce advised. "You never know if someone will see you wearing it."

"I won't always wear it, but I might make something kind of like it to wear at least on my leg." She yawned suddenly. "Would that be okay?"

"Whatever works out for you," Bruce approved. He turned to look at Barbara. "We'd better leave so Coba can rest a little more," he said to his old friend.

Gordon nodded. "I agree." She turned her attention to the young girl. "Get better, you hear?"

Coba grinned at the commissioner. "I hear ya."

Bruce and Barbara stood up from their seats and left the room. Coba closed her only open eye and relaxed her muscles. _There you go, my child_, she heard a voice identical to her mother's in her mind as sleep overcame her senses. _Your brother __and t__his city need you. You survived cancer and tonight for that reason. Keep fighting the good fight. _

Brooklyn then recalled the words both of her parents had each told her at one point: "No matter what happens, I will always be with you." She smiled fondly at the memory. "I know you will be, Mom and Dad," she murmured. "And no matter what happens, I'll remember both of you and honor your memory to the best of my ability."

_We know you will do so, my child__._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Is Bruce Wayne right about Mary letting Coba in if he's with her? Find out next in the epilogue- -yes, the epilogue is next _and_ is the final chapter of the story, and I'm sorry!  
**


	10. Epilogue

There was a brief knocking on the door to the McGinnis residence. Mary McGinnis, being the only one awake, answered it in surprise. An elderly man and a teenage girl with an eye patch over her right eye stood in front of the door. "Is there something I can help you two with?" Mary asked politely.

The old man spoke for both him and his companion. "As a matter of fact, there is," he said cordially. "Mary McGinnis, I presume? My name is Bruce Wayne, and my friend here is Coba Brooklyn. We would like to speak with Terrence McGinnis if he is around."

Mary nodded numbly, hardly able to believe her eyes and ears. "Of course," she said. "Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable. Would any of you like some coffee?"

"I would love some," Bruce said kindly. "What about you, Coba?"

"I wish I could," Brooklyn explained, "but I've been advised not to if I wish to recover quickly."

"How about water?" Ms. McGinnis asked the girl.

"That would be good, thank you."

Bruce and Coba followed Mary inside and sat down in the nearest couch. Coba winced and gritted her teeth as she tried to get comfortable, feeling her cracked ribcage scream in agony. Bruce propped a pillow behind his ward's back in an effort to help her feel better. The girl felt the soft pillow and relaxed a little upon contact. "I hope you don't mind milk," Mary said to Bruce as she came back with a cup of coffee and a glass of water. "We're out of cream."

"I prefer it," Wayne said kindly, accepting the hot mug of coffee.

Although she held very little respect for the girl, Mary could not help but feel sorry about her suffering as she handed Coba her glass of water. "What happened to her?" she asked the old man concernedly.

"She got into a fight with some Jokerz last night when they came after me," Bruce masterfully fibbed. "One had slashed a knife across her eye, then the others rammed her against the concrete wall supporting the gate to my estate. She got banged up pretty badly, but she's still a true warrior. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes." Obviously falling for Wayne's lie, Mary finally began to see that the girl she despised for so long- -for a reason that was incorrectly justified, she also realized for the first time- -was actually a very selfless person. "Yes, I agree. What would you like to see Terry for?"

Coba noticed Mary's realization and gave the woman an appreciative smile as Bruce chatted away with her. Not that Coba was prideful of her own actions and glad to see someone taking notice of them, but that Mary was finally opening up to her for once. Mary smiled back as she excused herself: "I'll go tell Terry that both of you are here."

"There's no need, Mom," Terry said from behind, "I'm right here." He looked at his half-sister in concern. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better, thank you," Brooklyn replied.

Mary looked at Terry quizzically. "You never told me that you knew Bruce Wayne."

Terry exchanged glances with Bruce and Coba for a moment. "Well, actually- -" he began rather sullenly.

"Why, I owe this boy my life," Wayne intervened. "He defended me against a bunch of hooligans once, he and Coba. I tried to reward them both, but they absolutely refused."

"Mr. Wayne wants to offer you a job," Mary told her son.

The teen looked at Bruce in surprise. "A job?"

"It's not much, mind you," the man explained. "I find that at my old age I could use a part-time assistant- -at least until Coba recovers. You know, a go-fer- -go-fer this, go-fer that- -an ally as it were. Would you be interested?" he finished, although he and Coba both knew what Terry would say.

"Well, of course he would," Mary said somewhat excitedly, "wouldn't you, honey? I mean, to work with someone as famous as Mr. Wayne."

Terry grinned. "Sure."

Bruce set his coffee down on the coffee table and stood up slowly. "I warn you, I can be a difficult task-master. I accept nothing short of excellence from all who work for me."

"I think I can handle it."

"Very good then, Mr. McGinnis," Bruce said with a smile, extending his right hand. "Welcome to my world."

McGinnis smiled back as he shook Wayne's hand in agreement. _He's going to let me be Batman_, he thought. _Then again, he might just want the suit back. It's still hidden in my room, after all. But why would he want his suit back if he can't use it?_

Coba grinned, although she felt a wave of uncertainty and happiness at the same time. _Things are going to be different. I still have yet to find out if it's a turn for the better or not, though. Ah well, better to live for the moment anyway, isn't it? _

~!~

Terry came over to Wayne Manor later that day, the Batsuit hidden underneath the clothes he was wearing. He had his backpack slung over his shoulder. Wayne and Coba greeted him warmly, but Ace, of course, growled at him in disapproval. They sat down in the Batcave together, discussing what the current crime scene was and where it was taking place.

"If they're robbing the bank, then why are the police not there yet?" Terry inquired.

"The robbers are holding over thirty citizens hostage," Bruce explained. "They threatened to kill the hostages if the police didn't let them get away without hassle."

"I guess that's where I come in," Terry said matter-of-factly, pulling his mask over his face.

Coba's eyes lit up. "You mean where _we_ come in," she stated.

Bruce rose an eyebrow at his young ward. "Are you sure that you're in good enough shape for this?" he asked concernedly.

"Yep, bring it on," Coba said, nodding.

"I don't like this, Coba," Terry said with an air of doubt. "I think that you should stay here this time. You'll be in better condition the next time this happens."

Brooklyn shook her head. "Not a chance, bro. I mean, these guys are not quite as dangerous as Powers and Fixx."

McGinnis looked at her seriously. "How do you know?"

"Just a feeling I have in my gut- -you know, like the feeling I had the night you were being chased by the Jokerz."

Terry gave a sigh of defeat. "Okay, get your suit, we leave in a minute."

Coba simply took off her shirt. "I've had it on the entire day," she said with a grin as she pulled the cowl over her face.

The teenage boy also grinned. "Pays to be prepared, eh?"

"My thoughts exactly. Let's get going!"

Wayne watched in admiration as the two siblings dashed out of the cave, casting bat-like silhouettes as they did so. _It really _does_ feel good to have kids around again. A little annoying sometimes, but a good feeling._ "Good luck, Batman and Batgirl," he murmured with a smile. _Ah, yes: having crime-fighters back in Gotham to clean up the crime feels great, too: whether I'm one of them or not.  
_

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**

**That's it for this book! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed coming up with it! Who knows: there might be a sequel to it, since there was something of a cliffhanger at the end of this one.**

**The character poll I made for this story is still on my profile page. Please go vote now if you have not already!  
**


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